Download Key Things to Remember when Writing a DBQ

Key Things to Remember when Writing a DBQ
• Categories (X, A and B) will be broader in order to effectively group the
documents.
• If possible, use all seven documents!
• You must do two parts of PHIA for each document.
• You must provide two pieces of OUTSIDE (cannot connect to any of the
documents) INFORMATION (SFIs) in your essay
• Synthesis and Contextualization = Conclusion
Document: 1
Document 1 (DOC 1)
P:
A:
H:
I:
Document: 1
Document 1 (DOC 1)
I: African American newspaper readers
P: to support African American military service
H: written during the same year as the outbreak
of the Spanish-American War, prior to the United
States acquisition of the Philippines, and two
years after the Plessy v. Ferguson decision
A: – written by an educated African American male with
a sense of leadership of people, who presents African
American participation in the Spanish-American War as
a positive good for race relations and portrays patriotism
and the United States as being a multiracial brotherhood
Document: 2
I:
P:
H:
A:
Document: 2
P: to criticize imperialism
H: stated after the outbreak of the
Spanish-American War and prior to
the US acquisition of the Philippines
I: a speech to a university audience and population who were
presumably educated, mostly White, and mostly affluent
A: written by a White American intellectual, who was an opponent of
imperialism and a proponent of Social Darwinism, skeptical about imperialism
and the concept of exporting US values via military force, and concerned that
doing so would make the US similar to Spain
Document: 3
I:
Document 3 (DOC 3)
A:
H:
P:
Document: 3
I – the American church delegation, magazine readers, and the general US public
Document 3 (DOC 3)
H: stated soon after the conclusion of
the Spanish-American War and the
debates about the US acquisition of the
Philippines (but some questions exist as
to whether McKinley really made the
statement
P: to justify the US acquisition of the Philippines
A: stated by a US president
who was a white male, holding
leadership of people, who
perhaps held a sense of
religious mission, and who was
explaining his thought process
leading to the decision to
annex the Philippines for the
US by considering the options
available, suggesting the
Filipinos were unfit for selfgovernment and needed US
intervention, and ultimately
suggesting that the US had a
Christian mission to uplift the
Philippine people
Document: 4
I:
Document 4 (DOC 4)
P:
A:
H:
Document: 4
I: excerpt from a speech to an audience that is uncertain but were likely
similar-minded supporters of social reform, isolationism and peace
Document 4 (DOC 4)
P: to criticize the Spanish-American War and the militarism it encouraged in the US
A: stated by a white American female, who was a social activist and a
progressive reformer based in Chicago and a pacifist who asserts that
US participation in the Spanish-American War had undermined support
for ideals of peace and had possibly encouraged more violence among
Americans on the streets of Chicago
H: stated soon after the conclusion
of the Spanish-American War and
immediately after the US
acquisition of the Philippines and
reflects urban perspective
Document: 5
I:
Document 5 (DOC 5)
P:
H:
A:
Document: 5
I: excerpt from a speech to business owners and local leaders in Chicago, presumably
white males who embraced a mainstream understanding of national politics
Document 5 (DOC 5)
P: to justify the US acquisition of the Philippines
H: stated soon after the
conclusion of the SpanishAmerican War and
immediately after the US
acquisition of the Philippines
A: stated by a white American male political leader (the governor of NY at the
time), an advocate of assertive late-nineteenth-century masculinity,
imperialism, and militarism, who expresses that the US had an obligation to
provide government for the Philippines and criticizes opponents of the
acquisition of the Philippines as being fearful and “unwilling…to play the part
of men.”
Document: 6
I:
Document 6 (DOC 6)
P:
A:
H:
Document: 6
I: an excerpt from a speech given while Bryan was campaigning for president to
an audience that is unclear but presumably made up of his political supports
Document 6 (DOC 6)
P: to condemn the US acquisition of the
Philippines, to make a case for ending colonialism,
and to make a case for his own campaign for the
presidency
H: stated soon after the conclusion of the SpanishAmerican War and soon after the US acquisition of the
Philippines
A: stated by a white American male political leader (a US representative from Nebraska at the time), an
opponent of imperialism who was supportive of Populist ideas, critical of US imperialism and condemnatory
of US colonialism but at the same time, critical of the notion of incorporating Filipinos as citizens
Document: 7
P:
Document 7 (DOC 7)
I:
A:
H:
Document: 7
Document 7 (DOC 7)
P: to humorously
critique the irony of an
American symbol of
liberty encompassing
non-US territories and
to suggest that
American interests may
be overextended
A: unclear but
seems to be
critical of US
expansionism
and present the
US as a quasiimperial power
in the Western
Hemisphere and
as protective but
with talons
I: a cartoon published
on the cover of Puck, a
satirical magazine
whose audience is
unclear but
presumably the
American reading
public
H: published soon after
the conclusion of the
Spanish-America War
and the US acquisition
of the Philippines and
Panama and in the
same year as the
Roosevelt Corollary
• The following slides show the development of categories (X, A, and B)
and the grouping of documents.
Sample X Statement:
• Which Documents Fit?
• Both the opponents and supporters of U.S. expansion at the turn of
the century supported the ideals of American republicanism and
exceptionalism. Despite their respective views and their differing
goals and how to pursue them, imperialists and anti-imperialists
shared common ideals.
Sample X Statement:
• Which Documents Fit?
• Documents 5 and 6
• Both the opponents and supporters of U.S. expansion at the turn of
the century supported the ideals of American republicanism and
exceptionalism. Despite their respective views and their differing
goals and how to pursue them, imperialists and anti-imperialists
shared common ideals.
Sample A Category:
• Which Documents Fit?
• Debates regarding the U.S. role as an emerging world power
Sample A Category:
• Which Documents Fit?
• Documents 2, 3, 7
• Debates regarding the U.S. role as an emerging world power
Sample B Category:
• Which Documents Fit?
• The impact that expansionism would have here at home
Sample B Category:
• Which Documents Fit?
• Documents 1 and 4
• The impact that expansionism would have here at home
• The following slides provide examples for thesis statements, potential
body paragraphs, use of documents, and use of outside information.
Prompt:
“Compare and contrast views of United States expansion in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Evaluate how understandings
of national identity, at the time, shaped these views. ”
Remember our thesis formula:
X. However, A and B. Therefore, Y.
Possible Thesis Statement Elements
• Arguments about overseas expansionism tended to be framed in terms
of who Americans were and what the US stood for, whether or not one
supported or opposed expansionism, and imperialists and antiimperialists
• Contrasting views about US expansion were linked to different notions of
the US mission
• Positive views of expansion were linked to national ideals
• Debates over expansionism hinged on the role of the US as a world
power
• Negative views of expansion framed national identity in terms of the
long-standing isolationist and anti-colonial traditions of the US
• The prevalent racist notions of national identity shaped the views of both
proponents and opponents of expansionism
• The tendency of expansionism to become the dominant policy reflected
a long-standing tendency in the US culture to link American identity with
a mission to proselytize for the values of the US, but expansionism also
conflicted with the national history of anti-colonialism and revolution
Possible Thesis Statements Could
Include the Following:
Thesis Example:
Both the opponents and supporters of U.S. expansion at the turn
of the century supported the ideals of American republicanism and
exceptionalism. Despite their respective views and their differing goals
and how to pursue them, imperialists and anti-imperialists shared
common ideals. However, because of debates regarding the U.S. role as
an emerging world power and the impact that expansionism would have
here at home, the two sides found little that could ultimately be agreed
upon.
Sample X Paragraph with the Use of
Documents:
In the wake of the Spanish-American War, the United States had to decide how
it would recognize its overseas acquisitions, especially the Philippines, which was
showing some resistance to U.S. presence. Both sides of the imperialism debate
used ideals that the nation had long embraced to support their arguments.
American imperialists, such as Teddy Roosevelt, believed U.S. acquisition of the
Philippines was necessary in order to guide the Filipino people toward and
American style self-government that would be based on the republican ideals of
the Founding Fathers (Doc. 5). This sentiment, however, brought on a great deal of
debate. Anti-imperialists, led by Democratic presidential candidate William
Jennings Bryan, pointed to the hypocrisy of American interventionism and argued
that republican ideals could never coincide with the policies of imperial colonialism
(Doc. 6).
Outside Information to Support Thesis
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Monroe Doctrine, 1823
The doctrine of Manifest Destiny
The formulation of the Roosevelt Corollary, 1904
The American victory in the Spanish-American War leading to the following outcomes
• The US acquisition of island territories
• Expanded US economic and military presence in the Caribbean and Latin America
• The US engagement in a protracted insurrection in the Philippines
• Increased US involvement in Asia
• Widespread public support for expansionism in the late nineteenth century
The active role of the press in mobilizing support for expansionism (yellow journalism and William Randolph
Hearst)
The opposition of some African American leaders to the war in the Philippines (W.E.B. du Bois)
Knowledge of the details of expansionism in the Pacific and the Caribbean (how US sovereignty was extended
to Hawaii and Samoa)
Later events or topics related to US overseas expansion
• Dollar diplomacy
• Moral diplomacy
• The US intervention in Mexico
Sample B Paragraph with Use of Documents
and Outside Information:
American imperialists and anti-imperialists also differed with one another
over the impact that overseas expansionism would have on the U.S. home front. At
the outset of the Spanish-American War in 1898, African-Americans were hopeful
that the war would provide national unity and help to improve race relations in the
United States. This war, coming on the heels of the Plessy v. Ferguson decision and
Jim Crow segregation, encouraged Black support and military service (Doc. 1). On the
other hand, many pacifists and anti-imperialists viewed expansionism much
differently. Urban social reformer, Jane Addams spoke of the harm that the violence
and brutality of the Filipino-American War would have on the United States, claiming
that the same brutality would spill over into city streets (Doc. 4). Still others saw the
economic harm that would be done due American involvement and acquisition of
the faraway place such as the Philippines. Anti-imperialist and American Federation
of Labor (AFL) leader Samuel Gompers opposed acquisition of the Philippines on the
grounds that it would damage the efforts of labor unions to improve working
conditions by allowing a new population of low-skill and low-wage labor into the
United States to compete for jobs and further drive down wages. Gompers goal was
to protect the American worker by opposing the acquisition of the Philippines and
entry of Filipino workers into the country.
Contextualization (Debates and policies about race,
immigration, nativism, and US society in the late 19th
century)
• Popular social-scientific theories including Social Darwinism and scientific racism
• Codification of Jim Crow laws (segregation) de facto and de jure in the late nineteenth
century; race riots and lynching
• Rise of the Niagara Movement and the NAACP
• Growth of the Social Gospel in the late nineteenth century
• The Progressive reform movement
• The perception in the 1890s that the western frontier was closed
Contextualization (Contemporary debates over late-19thcentury and early-20th-century imperialism)
• Yellow journalism and prevalent public support for expansionism
• The desire to have outposts and coaling stations in the Pacific to facilitate commerce in Asia
• The severe depression of the 1890s (the Panic of 1893) and the need to open up foreign
commercial markets
• Prior public support for Cuban nationalists and revolutionaries
• Distinctions in popular attitudes between support for the Spanish-American War and greater
opposition to the subsequent war in the Philippines
• The long history of the US territorial expansion and conquest and debates over the US role as a
global power
• Isolationism, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Roosevelt Corollary
• Division of Africa on the part of European powers and imperial competition
• The naval buildup in Europe, the rise of imperial Japan, and the subsequent American response
to increase naval power
• Arguments that Americans were destined to expand their culture and norms to others, especially
the non-white nations of the globe
• The notion of Christian evangelism contributing to a duty to expand US influence in the world
Synthesis
• Linking the argument to earlier debates about US involvement in
European affairs, from George Washington’s Farewell Address
through the Monroe Doctrine
• Linking the argument to debates about territorial expansion prior to
the Civil War, including issues surrounding the Louisiana Purchase and
the Mexican Cession
• Linking the argument to later twentieth-century debates about
expansionism and isolationism (We’ve yet to study this)
• Linking the argument to the rise of the US as a world power following
the Second World War (We’ve yet to study this)